With another weekend of Premier League action coming up, it looks like the derbies are going to crucial in deciding the final shake-up.
None more so than Everton vs Liverpool, and we’ll have coverage of that game on this Sunday’s Off The Ball.
Resident commentator Nathan Murphy joined Ger to give his thoughts on what’s likely to go down on Merseyside.
“I don’t think they’re (Liverpool) playing as well as they were in December”, said Nathan.
Liverpool may not have been firing as much as they were in December but they remain top of the league and will look to keep the momentum going from Wednesday night.
“If Wednesday night is a sign that they’re back somewhere near their best then I think they’ll go on to win the league”, said Nathan when talking about the Watford game and Liverpool’s impressive performance.
“You want to be playing Everton, Watford, Leicester, Bournemouth the teams that are in the middle eight rather than the top six or bottom six. This is their (Everton's) entire season on Sunday.”
Everton sit in ninth place on 36 points and have had an underwhelming season so far. Marco Silva has received a lot of criticism recently, and some pundits are beginning to believe he’ll be gone by summer.
A win against Liverpool on Sunday could change all that, it could lift spirits on the blue side of Merseyside and could potentially turn their season around.
Although Everton’s most recent win against Liverpool came in 2010 [2-0] that makes it 18 meetings where Everton are winless, so a win this weekend looks increasingly unlikely.
We will see the outcome on Sunday, and we will see if the result means that Everton can turn their underwhelming season around, if Liverpool can continue their charge for a first ever Premier League title.
Nathan and Ger also previewed the North London derby which is the 12:30 kick off on Saturday.
Spurs will be looking to bounce back after two disappointing defeats to Burnley and Chelsea.
Nathan discussed how we’re so accustomed to seeing this from Spurs and Pochettino, and although they’re in poor form, he doesn’t think a a home win's out of the question.
“We go on this rollercoaster of emotion with Spurs; they lose two games and they lose games they shouldn’t lose. The lack of resources, it’s all come back to bite them in the ass, and then they follow it up with this big win, and people go ‘bloody hell, look at what Pochettino has done with the lack of resources.’ He’s that good a manager he can do that tomorrow.”
Arsenal sit in fourth place at the moment and they will be looking to remain in the top four. Four points separate the teams and a win for Arsenal would be crucial in the race for the top four; it would also decrease the gap to one point.
Arsenal have been able to sustain the pressure on Man United, but will they continue to do so is the main question. A win against Spurs would certainly help in doing that. A word of warning: they have only been able to register one away win against Tottenham in the last 10 meetings.
HEAR OUR FULL PREVIEW BELOW:
By LIAM SMITH
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